Emmer pushes for MN GI Bill. There's just one problem...

It appears gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer might be suffering from a case of legislative amnesia.

Emmer told a crowd of about two dozen veterans in Elk River Thursday that he supports the creation of a Minnesota GI bill, which would give money to the families of fallen soldiers for higher education expenses.

“I don’t know if you remember, a few years ago the governor had proposed [a Minnesota GI bill],” said Emmer, a state representative. “And I think that’s something we should certainly be looking at and it’s unfortunate we haven’t done something like that already.”

There’s just one problem: The proposal became law in 2007. It was included in a broader higher education appropriations bill, which Emmer voted against.

Campaign spokesman Bill Walsh attributed the flub to “bad staff work,” noting that Emmer was reading from an overview of Pawlenty’s proposals.

“I didn’t make it clear which things had passed and which things hadn’t passed yet. And obviously he forgot, because he voted on it. So that is a misspeak,” Walsh said. He noted that Emmer supports keeping that program in the budget moving foward.

As for that no vote? Walsh said Emmer opposed the spending bill because it underfunded the GI Bill program and overfunded other programs.

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